A huge congratulations to Prof. Albert Chan and his research team on recently winning the Grand Award in the Community Excellence Category of the PolyU Distinguished Knowledge Transfer Awards(卓越知識轉移項目獎：社會項目大獎)!Recognizing the team’s excellence and great contribution to the community, this prestigious award is a deserved tribute to their painstaking research‘ Anti-heat Stress Clothing for Construction Workers in Hot & Humid Weather’ over years.
The goal of the PolyU Distinguished Knowledge Transfer Awards is to encourage colleagues to advance knowledge and provide high impact knowledge services for accelerating the innovation and technological development of the region and beyond.With the theme of ‘Stars Connected’,the Prize Presentation Ceremony of the PolyU Distinguished Knowledge Transfer Awards was held on 5 June 2017.To kick-start this important occasion, the officiating guests included Mr. Nicholas Yang, JP, the Secretary for Innovation and Technology Bureau of the HKSAR Government,Mr. Chan Tze Ching,BBS, JP, the Chairman of Council of PolyU and Dr Miranda Lou, the Vice President (Administration and Business)of PolyU and the Chairman of Board Directors of PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited.
In the Ceremony,Prof. Albert Chan together with his team members were very honoured to receive the Grand Award (the Community Excellence Category) from Mr. Chan Tze Ching, BBS, JP on the stage.In addition to the Community Excellence Category(社會項目), there were three Grand Awards to praise colleagues’ exceptional contribution in the respective categories of Business Excellence(商業項目), Research Excellence(科研項目)and Technological Excellence(科技項目). The Ceremony was filled with a lot of joy, heart felt congratulations and encouragement to the awardees.
In Hong Kong, it is common that construction workers work outdoors for long hours under hot and humid weather conditions. Workers’ health and safety is a matter of great concern for the industry. To alleviate their discomfort and risk of heat stroke, under Prof. Chan’s leadership, a dedicated team of research members had the thorough studies over years and successfully came up with a couple of practical measures,one of which is a great example ‘Anti-heat Stress Clothing’. Since PolyU granted the Construction Industry Council the license of manufacturing the‘ Anti-heat Stress Clothing’ at a nominal cost of HK$1in 2015,the wide spread adoption of the clothing has enhanced a strong culture of workers’ well-being, health and safety as well as an ideal achievement of higher productivity. It is likely that over 300 thousand of workers will benefit from it in future.
Prof. Chan said, “The success of our knowledge transfer for the benefit of the construction workers is very encouraging to the whole team.”
